Chinese armed police beat Tibet monks -report

September 28, 2008

BEIJING Fri Sep 26, 2008 (Reuters) - Chinese police in the restive
mountainous region of Tibet beat up to 50 monks who had tried to
complain about the beating of one of their colleagues, a rights group said.

Four of the monks had to be hospitalised, the Free Tibet Campaign said
in an emailed statement of an incident which happened earlier this week
at the Kirti monastery, citing an unnamed source.

"The monk had left the monastery earlier that day, having obtained the
relevant permission from the monastery authorities. As the monk returned
to the monastery a short time before dark, he was stopped by Chinese
armed police," the group said.

"According to the source, the returning monk was beaten so badly by the
armed police that he was bleeding when he managed to return to the
monastery."

When other monks went to the police station to demand an explanation,
they too were beaten up, the statement added.

It was not possible to independently verify the report but China
regularly denies claims of repression in Tibet.

Beijing laid out its case in a "white paper" issued on Thursday,
amassing statistics about literacy, education and religion to argue that
Tibet had enjoyed a cultural revival since the Chinese Communist Party
took control in 1950.

Tibet was rocked by renewed protests in March, blamed by China on exiled
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. He denies the charges.

China's crackdown on the March unrest drew widespread international
criticism.